Perhaps one of the most significant areas email marketers tackle on a daily basis is email deliverability and the engagement of subscribers on our lists. There’s no point in sending if our messages don’t reach the inbox, or if they get there, go unread.
We understand this pain point because we, too, are constantly trying to improve our own email marketing program, as well as offer counsel and strategic advice to our clients. Here are the most common email deliverability and engagement questions we’ve been asked, as well as the answers experts on our team have shared.
What is a Feedback Loop (FBL)?
A Feedback Loop (FBL) is a way mail senders can receive notice of spam complaints from ISPs such as Hotmail, Yahoo and AOL. The ISPs send a notice to the mail sender each time one of their users marks a message as spam. The mail sender can then unsubscribe those users.
It’s important to note not all ISPs offer FBLs. Right now, Gmail doesn’t offer a traditional FBL, although they’re doing some testing with a select group of Email Service Providers (including WhatCounts).
What is a role account…
…and why should I remove them from my list? Are there any exceptions?
Role accounts are email addresses such as webmaster@, sales@, support@, admin@ representing a role or department within a company instead of an individual. Most haven’t expressed a desire to get your message, and as a result, they’ll probably opt out or complain. Additionally, there’s no way to verify “consent” to receive emails. Therefore, these addresses should be scrubbed and removed from your email marketing subscriber lists
How do I know if emails I deploy…
…are undeliverable or marked as spam?
First, make sure you know what to use as the bounce address for your mailing. That is typically given to you by your ESP during onboarding. Next, make sure you use that bounce address in all the address fields for your list aside from the from address. That will ensure any notifications about undeliverable messages will be returned to the system and your ESP’s software can process those and include them in reporting.
Keep an eye on your campaigns so you can identify those with a large number of bounces. Drill down into reporting so you can view those bounces broken down by category and domain. Complaint data should also be included in that area so you can see which subscribers are marking your message as spam. Reach out to your ESP if you have any questions about bounces or need more details.
How do you calculate…
…the percent of subscribers on your list who are active vs. inactive?
A subscriber can either be Active, Passive or Inactive. If a subscriber clicked a link in an email in the last three months, he or she is Active. If he or she opened an email, but didn’t click, the subscriber is Passive. And if he or she has done neither, the subscriber is Inactive.
However, be sure when calculating these that you aren’t including NEW subscribers – or include them in the Active group as they may not have been given the opportunity to click or open yet.
In the WhatCounts Professional platform, the Standard Report Library provides a list of Active, Passive and Inactive subscribers. The Inactive Subscriber report adds an Exclude Days field to allow you to exclude the number of days a subscriber has been in the system so it doesn’t count them as Inactive.
Should you automatically unsubscribe…
…an email subscriber who has not opened your messages in 12 months or more?
No. According to Gmail’s Sri Somanchi, who spoke at the 2015 Email Evolution Conference, you should begin to ramp down the cadence at which you are continuing to send to an inactive subscriber. If you currently send weekly, begin to send every other week. If there is still no engagement after a few months, begin to ramp down to a monthly sending frequency. If the pattern of inactivity continues, you’ll want to target these subscribers with a final ultimatum. This type of ultimatum is sometimes called a Makeup / Breakup email campaign. Maintaining a clean, healthy list should be a top priority for any email marketer.
The Importance of Email Deliverability
Many factors contribute to the benefits of good email deliverability and engagement, including understanding the parts of your subscriber database you’re not reaching and gaining a starting point for refining your creative and list-building practices. If you need a helping hand when it comes to email deliverability, the experts on our team are ready to jump right in.